Museums: a wholesome recreational alternative to procreation and the pub*

The Attic (a name which commemorates our first physical location) is, first and foremost, a site for the research students of the School of Museum Studies at the University of Leicester: a virtual community which aims to include all students, be they campus-based and full-time, or distance-learning and overseas. But we welcome contributions from students of museum studies - and allied subject areas - from outside the School and from around the world. Here you will find a lot of serious stuff, like exhibition and research seminar reviews, conference alerts and calls for papers, but there's also some 'fluff'; the things that inspire, distract and keep us going. After all, while we may be dead serious academic types, we're human too.

Proposals are welcomed from writers, academics, photographers, curators, artists and other visual practitioners.

This book will bring together the varied ways in which reflexivity manifests itself within photography and the photograph. In this instance we are taking a broad approach to the term (as evidenced in the suggestions below), where “reflexivity” is used to describe:

* The methods and dialogues that practitioners use to interrogate their own work

* The manner in which these devices enable the photographer to engage in an exchange with the work of others and with the world around them

We are seeking chapters that deal with a wide range of issues in relation to the principle of the reflexive photographer. This could encompass - but is not limited to - conceptual, cultural, historical and visual concerns relating to:

* The historical perspectives of reflexivity

* The photographer making visual work that is reflexive

* The photographer writing about and reflecting on their own work

* The use or affect that the materials of photography (the lens, the camera, etc.) have on reflexivity

* The photographer using notebooks and sketchbooks (or equivalent) as a reflexive tool

* The use or affect that different types of editing have on reflexivity

* The photographer writing about the work of others as a reflexive tool

* The analysis of seminal texts from key photographers

* The interview as a means to reveal reflexivity

* The examination of reflexivity where more than one practitioner is at work

* The use of the photograph as a form of life writing

* The use of reflexivity in the context of photography in the digital sphere

Additionally, we are interested in examining different formats for reflexivity:

Rosie Miller is a Lecturer and Critical & Contextual Studies Area Leader in the School of Art & Design, University of Salford, UK. Jonathan Carson is Associate Head (Academic) and Senior Lecturer in Critical & Contextual Studies in the School of Art & Design, University of Salford, UK. Theresa Wilkie is Director of Design & Culture and Senior Lecturer in Critical & Contextual Studies in the School of Art & Design, University of Salford, UK. All three previously edited Photography and the Artist’s Book (MuseumsEtc, 2012).

***STOP PRESS***

Museums (em)Power PhD Conference

We have a new PhD conference upcoming this year September 13-14, 2018. It is called Museums (em)Power and will thematically explore power from a contemporary, museum context. The official website and details are forthcoming. Stay tuned to the Attic Blog for the latest!